How Can I Effectively Engage Senior Executives in a Leadership Training Session?

Dear HR Colleagues,

I am a Training Manager in a company for the past 3 years and have to conduct a 1-day training session with our top management, including the Managing Director, CFO, Head of Marketing and Sales, Operations Head, and General Managers. The purpose of the training is to educate them on Performance Management. Our company is a multinational corporation, and we are launching an "Enhanced Leadership" initiative globally based on the results of an Employee Engagement Survey, which highlighted the need for stronger and more involved leadership. As a result, we have introduced a new set of Leadership Competencies in our Appraisal Forms, which will also be covered during this 1-day workshop, with a focus on "walking the talk."

I am seeking advice on how to effectively engage with the senior executives in our organization, who hold significant positions, are older in age, and have been with the company for a long time. While they may have their own perspectives, it is crucial for us to guide them towards necessary changes.

The training content will include Company Values, Coaching, Situational Leadership, and Performance Appraisal through Role-Playing exercises.

I am looking forward to receiving insights from my experienced colleagues.

Thank you and regards,
ML

Dear ML, I feel that you have gotten quite confused with the contents and techniques of the training itself. Your second confusion is about the level of the participants and the topics that you wish to cover. The topics that you wish to cover are suitable for a lower level and not for a higher level.

Strategic Aspects vs. Situational Leadership

What you should be covering are strategic aspects of the business for this level and not situational leadership. This 1982 model has outlived its utility and is used in India because a few MNCs continue to use it without assessing its relevance.

Training Duration and Content Depth

Your one more confusion is about a day's training. Even if you wish to cover the topics you want to take, it would take 3-4 days of training provided the training is done earnestly. If you wish to cover all the topics you have mentioned, then it would be tantamount to making a cursory or passing reference to each topic. By doing a passing reference, how will they master the subject, and if they don't master the subject, from where will you measure the ROI of training?

Strategic Direction for Top Management

The biggest flaw with many of the top management is that they don't understand the basic difference between strategy and operational efficiency. What they should be doing is giving a strategic direction rather than getting into the humdrum of operations. For top management, environment scanning, organizational analysis, SWOT analysis, and SBU analysis are far more important. Organizational performance depends on these factors and not on their situational leadership. Once you teach them these tools, they will automatically wake up to reality.

These are my honest opinions. The rest is all up to you.

Thanks,

Dinesh V Divekar

"Limit of your words is the limit of your world."

Thank you for your reply. However, we are not working with an external trainer. I understand this is not our usual practice, which is why I requested some suggestions. Thank you for taking the time.

Best regards,
ML

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and opinions on the training of Senior Management from your perspective. However, I am not confused; rather, I am quite clear that Senior Management needs to be "trained" in handling its most important assets - its staff - the Human Resources of the Company. In this regard, training Senior Management on "Walk the Talk" of the Leadership competencies used in Appraisal Forms is VERY ESSENTIAL.

I do agree that there is a difference between being an in-house Manager and training Seniors, but that is the Challenge - training other staff is routine, and my purpose is to overcome this challenge. If you have any suggestions, please do share them.

Thank you and best regards,
ML

How old are your senior team members? What has been their work experience like? Is your trainer trained in change management? Have they done any sort of "change management" in a company with proven results?

I feel like there's a lot of things going on and you're trying to do many things:

1. There's the change management aspect.
2. There's the leadership training.
3. There's the performance appraisal stuff. Are they being trained on their own performance issues, or on "How to do performance appraisals"?
4. "The walk the walk" stuff — You know, unless they're really motivated, no one is going to really walk the walk, especially if they're in senior positions.

So, what is the one goal that you're trying to accomplish with this training session?

Good luck!

Regards,
Yu Yu

Dear ML, Your one-day training will not yield the "long-term mindset change" result you are looking for. It is not just training that you should embark on, but executive coaching over a period of time with progressive coaching and assessments customized based on your required leadership competencies. Only then can you achieve "Walk the Talk" for "Your Top Brass."

Regards,
Autumn Jane